Supermarkets scramble for clients as Brazilians lose purchasing power

A well-known specter reared its ugly head once more in Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic: hunger. In 2020, 19 million Brazilians experienced hunger and almost 117 million struggled to put food on the table, according to Rede Penssan, an organization specialized in food security research. 

With food prices through the roof and less income to buy them, many Brazilians are reducing the quantity and quality of their weekly groceries, while the most vulnerable households are resorting to food donations or even items discarded by stores and supermarkets.

Last week, newspaper Extra ran a front-page spread on the phenomenon, showing a truck full of discarded animal carcasses being used as a distribution point for hungry residents in Rio de Janeiro, without money to buy food.

Traditionally given away for use in stock or as dog food, butcher shops around the country are now charging for bones, with one establishment in the southern city of Florianópolis making it very clear that beef bones would not be given as donations, instead selling them for BRL 4 (USD 0.73) a kilo.

According to Brazilian supermarkets association ABRAS, the price of the beef forequarter cuts in supermarkets rose 40.6 percent over the last 12 months, with parts of the hindquarter becoming 32.9 percent more expensive. Indeed, inflation has pushed the country’s red meat consumption to its lowest level in 25 years.

Often preferred as cheaper alternatives to beef, chicken,...